Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research Research article BioMed Central Open Access The use of average Pavlov ratio to predict the risk of post operative upper limb palsy after posterior cervical decompression Koon-Man Sieh*1, Siu-Man Leung1, Judy Suk Yee Lam2, Kai Yin Cheung1 and Kwai Yau Fung1 Address: 1Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Alice Ho Mui Ling Nethersole Hospital, Tai Po, NT, Hong Kong SAR, PR China and 2Department of Diagnostic Radiology and organ Imaging, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, PR China Email: Koon-Man Sieh* - siehkm1@; Siu-Man Leung - ; Judy Suk Yee Lam -. | Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research BioMed Central Open Access The use of average Pavlov ratio to predict the risk of post operative upper limb palsy after posterior cervical decompression Koon-Man Sieh 1 Siu-Man Leung1 Judy Suk Yee Lam2 Kai Yin Cheung1 and Kwai Yau Fung1 Address Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology Alice Ho Mui Ling Nethersole Hospital Tai Po NT Hong Kong SAR PR China and 2Department of Diagnostic Radiology and organ Imaging The Chinese University of Hong Kong Prince of Wales Hospital Shatin NT Hong Kong SAR PR China Email Koon-Man Sieh - siehkm1@ Siu-Man Leung - Judy Suk Yee Lam - judysylam@ Kai Yin Cheung - kenkyc@ Kwai Yau Fung - kyfung@ Corresponding author Published 7 July 2009 Received 19 March 2009 Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research 2009 4 24 doi 1749-799X-4-24 Accepted 7 July 2009 This article is available from http content 4 1 24 2009 Sieh et al licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http licenses by which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Study Design A retrospective study was conducted to study the post operative upper limb palsy after laminoplasty for cervical myelopathy. Objective To identify a reliable and simple preoperative radiological parameter in predicting the risk of post operative upper limb palsy. Background Post operative upper limb palsy is one of the causes of patient dissatisfaction after surgery. There had been no simple standard preoperative radiological parameters reliably predict the occurrence of this problem. Materials and methods Seventy-four patients received posterior cervical decompression from 1998 to 2008. Medical record and preoperative radiological information were evaluated. .
